2018 Fall September 30 Sunday

75 degrees this morning, walk 34:57 minutes, 88% humidity.

Walk was a little strange this morning, when I was away from the wind, I would get hot, when I was in the wind, I would get cold!  Not really that bad, but it was enough I noticed it.  No moon visible this morning.

Sitting out on the patio this morning, it is wonderful, as long as I can stay out of the breeze!  

A button on my exercise shorts snapped off while I was doing my weights this morning, a sure sign I have to seriously start eating less!  I have long realized that exercise helps, but eating less is absolutely necessary to losing weight.  

Actually, exercise can increase your metabolic rate (consume more calories) for hours after you finish exercising.  

Also, my research indicates (actually research I did for a speech) is that a pound of muscle burns 50 calories more per day than a pound of fat, which is one reason I became interested in weightlifting.

Overall, I have found the only “diet” that works for me is low-carbs, not the extreme low carb diet, but elimination or at least minimize the “fast carbs” in bread etc.  I never worried about the carbs in fruits and vegetables.  They have a lot of carbs,, but they are “slow carbs”.  

Finishing up on the Robert Moses biography (it is a 66 hour audio book, so it has taken a while), I learned one the the biggest factors in his downfall was his inability to consider honest feedback, especially any kind of negative feedback.

He would have a spoiled brat fit if someone told him bad news and blamed the messenger.  Of course the result is a bunch of people who didn’t tell him want he needed to hear (so he could fix it) until it was too late.  

Sounds like the current lying coward lunatic we currently have to deal with!  

While I haven’t had the time to really follow the supreme court nominee situation, he has shown he is absolutely unfit for the supreme court (or any court) by his little fit that shows he is a bigot, and sees a conspiracy behind every rock.  He has some real problems that he should never be able to “judge” anyone else!

The fact that this lille tantrum endeared him to the lying coward pervert lunatic and  his band of cowards is really scary, in fact absolutely frightening for the future of our country.  They are out of touch with any sort of reality in their rush to shovel tax $ to their donors and lobbyists and use the government for their own perverted goals.  

Last day of September today.  I treasure every morning on the patio, since I never know when it will be my last for about 6 to 8 months!

That’s it for now, Sunday, September 30, 2018.

2018 Fall September 29 Saturday

65 degrees this morning, walk 35:08 minutes humidity 88%

Good walk this morning, a little coolish of course. No moon.  

Sitting on the patio this morning as I write this.  It is warmer than yesterday, but the wind makes it a little more uncomfortable, but it is still nice.  

I noted the last few flowers on the Crepe Myrtle tree, indicating the last vestiges of summer. 

Pace was 25 seconds slower than my goal.  I could even feel this morning I was slow.  I am glad I was aware of being slower than normal.  This is one of my slower pace times, but hardly the slowest.

Of course, it depends on my REAL goal, which is to enjoy the walk, keep healthy etc., not to walk as fast as I can.  If I concentrated on walking too fast, I wouldn’t enjoy the walk and probably wouldn’t really listen to what I was listening too.  

I am far behind in books I want to listen on my walk, there are about a million (literally) podcasts I would like to listen and learn about.  I do a lot of drive time on my “field days”, I probably ought to listen more to books or podcasts instead of what I do listen too.  (A mixture of CNBC, and a wide variety of music depending on my mood and what is on the radio).   

I am probably driving at least an hour and 1/2 and am sitting in the car doing paperwork about as much, so that is a lot of time I could be learning and listening to something else.

Not to say, Sirius has gotten expensive and I could save a tidy sum by canceling it, but it is probably worth the money, at least in the present. 

If I look at my day, sometimes I am surprised at how I spend my time.  I was thinking this morning that I really don’t time myself on writing this journal and I won’t.  I know exactly how long it takes to shower, shave etc, how long I walk, how long it takes when I do my weights etc.

I am a big advocate of “balance” and I think if I started to really concentrate on where I was “wasting” time, it wold be hard to say.  “Wasting” time is a judgement call, to say the least.  

I look at my walk and think what I could do if I didn’t walk, same with writing this journal, reading the newspapers, time on the computer etc., but then it would get to the point where I would lose the balance of my life and perhaps not feel like I am leading a productive life, which is kind of the point.

Productive may not be the right word, but “enjoyable” isn’t either.  Maybe it is just lying a life you can look back on and say “I had a good life”.  

Read this morning in the on-line USA today an article by someone advocating that there be an “age limit” for running for public office etc.  I was going to ponder on that, but more on that in the future!  

That’s it for now, Saturday, September 29, 2018.

2018 Fall September 28 Friday

60 degrees this morning, walk 34:59 minutes, 84 % humidity 

Nice walk this morning, although I way overestimated how cool it was and dressed too worm.  I guess sweating is good for me, or at least I hope it is.

Kind of a last gasp of summer, I decided to sit on the patio this morning, expecting to come right back in.  However, so far, so good.  I am a little out of the wind, which helps.

The full moon overhead (almost directly above me) and the night sounds make it worth while, at least for a while.  I think more and more of a “fire pit” for the patio, although I doubt that it work for what I need it for.  

Pace was 12 seconds slower than my goal this morning.   Looking over the past 3 years, I don’t see a lot of improvement on my pace!  However, on the other hand, I don’t see any deterioration either.  Something to say for the status quo!  

Thinking about “assumptions” this morning, assuming someone is going to act a certain way because of the way they look, their age, their cultural background etc.  

I guess it is kind of a “shortcut” to avoid having to exert a lot of effort!  Not that I necessarily feel that is bad, it is just something you have to be cognizant of.  Or at least something I need to be cognizant of and be aware that I may be “assuming” the wrong thing about people and other people may be picking up on my signals, good or bad, based on my age, dress or whatever and also making assumptions.   

One of the things I really enjoy about my job is some of the interesting people I get a chance to work with (although it is on a very short-term basis).  There is probably few things as exciting as starting your own business.  On the other hand there is so few things so disheartening as seeing your business fail and I unfortunately get to see that side also. 

Another dream:

Dream 9-27-17

Dreamed I was in some kind  of resort.  For some reason I was asked endless rounds of questions about a subject (I’n not sure what) as are a group of other people.

At one time, I I was in an elevator and the handle to open the door (it as apparently a very old elevator!) snapped off. 

I eventually got out but the elevator was about 3 feet below the floor level and I had to crawl out.  

While I was crawling out, there was a man coming in.  I warned him about how the elevator was acting.  He didn’t really seemed perturbed by it and walked in on the level elevator

At the last part, I was eating with a group of other people  and someone was going around to each person asking  them a series of questions  that they had to respond to to the group in the  room.  i was next.

I woke up

This was  a long and very powerful dream.  I wish I had written it down soon so I could remember more of it.   It took several minutes after I woke up to realize where I was and it was only a dream.

That’s it for now, Friday, September 28, 2018.

2018 Fall September 27 Thursday

48 degrees this morning, walk 34:40 minutes, 98% humidity 

Coolish walk this morning. Wasn’t really sure how to dress, normally over dress (too warm), this morning I didn’t.  Fortunately my internal furnace kicked in and I kept warm.  48 degrees was definitely brisk.

Hopefully it will warm up enough so I can sit on the patio several more times this season.  This time of month (with the full moon) is my favorite time to sit on the patio, so I will miss it.  Of course, it also means the patio will be nice at other times of the day also.

Today, September 27,  is the day my mother passed away, 21 years ago.  Strange that someone, who when I was a child, I really thought would never die has been gone for 21 years.  I still get a chill when I think about how phone records show she called all of her lifelong friends, her children etc. that day. 

I am gradually upgrading all of my devices to ISO 12.  It is a good upgrade, as far as I can tell.

Listening to the last part of the biography on Robert Moses (of the total of 66 hours!).  As the truth gradually came out about his criminal activities and abuse of power, he used the familiar tactics of personally attacking the reporters who were exposing his activities and then trying to call the publishers etc.  

In many cases, he would try to find “dirt” on the reporters and when he couldn’t find it he would would make it up.  Sounds familiar!

In the case of Moses, he still had the ability to operate in secret a lot more than most agencies would have the ability to do now.  Although, as I have seen in local government, secret meetings etc. continue and without an active press that is more interested in currying favor than exposing corruption, it will continue.

While I like on-line news media, I have found I am much more likely not to read on-line newspapers etc. When you get a physical object, you have to physically throw it away and I think I am more likely to read it.

I subscribe to a local 2 x per week paper and many times I simply forget to read it.  If it was delivered I probably would read it.

That is the same with magazines and major newspapers, although I would probably never read the Washington Post as a physical newspaper, I do read it on-line on a regular basis.  I don’t agree with everything it says, but it is a good newspaper. 

Ditto even with the USA Today.  They emphasize trivial news about “celebrities” etc and sports, but I can skip one that on the internet edition and I would never read the physical edition (unless I was traveling). They do frequently have the latest news, although some of their “news” seems to frequently be close to an ad.

Actually we save a lot of time because we simply no longer watch or read anything about the lying coward perverted lunatic.  If he comes on tv, we speed through it,  and we no longer watch the Sunday morning programs because it seems like they are intent, even when they are critical, on publicizing the lies of the  lying coward perverted racist lunatic without any real counterpoint to the lies.  

Strange that a lunatic who criticizes the news media and “libel” laws and someone who is trying to destroy the “freedom of speech” clause is the person who benefits from news media and freedom of speech concept the most!  

That’s it for now, Thursday, September 27, 2018.

2018 Fall September 26 Wednesday

61 degrees this morning, no walk (rain), 72 % humidity.  

More rain this morning, light showers, sporadic.  Another day on the patio missed as the “patio days” come to an end for the season!  

Regarding the heavy rains on the first day of Spring, I still remember years ago (I actually remember I was in the 5th grade because I had just switched schools), the teacher indicated that it was common for heavy rains around the first day of Fall and she wasn’t surprised.  While I haven’t found this to be true every year, it is frequently the case.

We can now say “the whole world is laughing” at the lying coward pervert lunatic.  What a joke, so incompetent, and the coward congress continues to allow this lunatic to ruin the United States and world.  

Way past time for the 25th amendment or impeachment, or at least have the guts to curtail his authority to ruin the economy and  such illegal actions as transferring cancer funding to his insane immigration policy that shovels tax dollars and  huge profits to his donors in the prison industry.  

I am amazed at how much time they news media gives to his insane and vicious personal attacks, grossly obvious lies and and in incompetent actions that are destroying the United States and world economy.  A very bad joke.  

The new battery for the iPhone helped some. The speed still isn’t great, but it is a lot better and it has corrected a lot of problems I was having with some apps, primarily the watch app. 

I really like IOS 12, after using it for several days.  It has a lot of improvements I have seen and I am sure I am seeing only a small percentage of the improvements.  

I am looking forward to buying the new iPhone, although, as always, with some trepidation at having to learn new techniques and programs.  On the other hand, with Apple products, I have usually found somehow they are easy to learn to use.  I do with their computers would have “touch screens”.  Since the phones, iPads etc. have touch screens, it is really odd and disappointing that the computers don’t.  

Our experience with the Amazon Echo and Google home mini have really indicated this technology is a major advancement in the “usefulness” of technology.  It is truly amazing what they can do, and, more yet the potential for the technology.

I really figure Apple will figure out a way to make a truly major advancement when it comes out with it’s equal product.  Certainly Siri now is far behind either of them. 

While we use the Echo most because we got it first and have more of them, there is a lot I like about the Google Home mini. First of all , the voice is so much better.  While this may seem a small point, the Google Home mini voice is much more pleasant and (this may sound strange) believable.  

As I previously mentioned, many of the “search” type answers are much better from Google.  However, the Echo has been very “useful” in automating many of our daily tasks.  One of the most useful and mundane is the “list” function, which is truly useful!  Probably the Google Mini has the same thing, we just haven’t used it.  

That’s it for now, Wednesday, September 26, 2018

2018 Fall September 25 Tuesday

67 degrees this morning , Walk 34:35 minutes, 99% humidity 

Good walk this morning, a light breeze made up for the humidity (I guess).  

The humidity is so high, I went out to sit on the patio and there is a light mist on all of the chairs etc.  Since it is so nice, and the “sitting on the patio season” is ending and there is a full moon shining in the west, I decided I’ll sit here anyway!  A little moisture (as long as I keep it from my computer and phone) is fine compared to missing a morning on the patio!  

The moon is hanging high in the western sky.  It seems to be there every month about this time  

I will miss my mornings on the patio as the cold weather moves in and makes it impossible to sit on the patio, although I think more and more about a “fire pit”!  (Well, not really, but the idea is pleasant to think about.)

Pace was 6 seconds slower than my goal.  Somehow, I have a feeling the goal won’t move anytime soon, at least if I am realistic about setting a goal I can reach occasionally.  

On the other hand, I’m not sure if it is necessary to “meet” your goal as much as it is to strive to meet the goal.

The dreaded “stress test” actually was fine.  Not something I’d want to do often, (like every 20 years), but if it is necessary, it is necessary.  Also provided an excuse for a big breakfast “out” after the test! 

One thing I have found about the hospital system we use, they have, generally, excellent staff who at least seem to care as much about the patients as they do he procedures, if that makes any sense.  I generally feel very positive about the medical staff we use.  

Of course, I still have gotten the results yet.  Thank goods for good medical insurance!  I can’t even imagine what the “rack rate” is for the procedure.  

Read this morning about how technology (primarily digital assistants such as the Amazon Echo and the Google Home) are impacting hotel and restaurant workers.  One example was facial recognition may eliminate the need for desk clerks, and digital assistants (as well as any computer programs and apps) can make reservations, provide recommendations as well as a concierge can etc.  

Perhaps.  However, just like the “self scan” in grocery stores etc, machines aren’t always universally accepted.

The point of the article (and many articles like it) is that instead of “replacing” people, technology needs to “work with” people and allow people to expand their productivity and skills.  

I certainly feel that technology can assist in an lot of areas.  The troubling question is perhaps about retraining workers who are displaced.  Also, as one book recently pointed out, if technology replaces all he workers, who is going to have the money to buy the products they make!  

That’s it for now, Tuesday, September 25, 2018.

2018 Fall September 24 Monday

67 degrees this morning, no walk, 92 % humidity.  

No walk this morning due to a medical test early this morning. 

Regarding “Nest” support, I spent over two hours on the phone Saturday about correcting an error that Nest had made.  At least the issue got resolved, but I can’t do a lot about two hours lost due to their error.

As in most cases I have found, it was a simple fix, it took maybe 5 minutes (although it did take several hours for the fix to actually flow through to completion).  It may sound confusing but that is the best way I can explain it.

Actually i had some understanding, since one of my job duties is to “talk people through” completing reports on the computer. 

Somehow, in spite of all that, I went ahead and updated to IOS 12 on one of my iPhones.  I normally wait, but this is the slow phone and I had heard IOS 12 was designed to speed up older phones.  So far, so good, I am impressed, but my experience is limited to a entering some basic information.

I was surprised that IOS12 is available for my aging iPads, which mades me feel better.  Actually, although they are approaching 5 years old (I believe in October), they are still performing well, although with 16 gig, they will not hold a lot of information.  I have learned to get the maximum storage possible, although I actually haven’t done that on my recent phones, i usually get the midrange and I haven’t come even close to running out of storage.  Of course, the “iCloud” off-loading helps as does unlimited storage on Amazon Prime. 

I didn’t look up the medical test I am doing this morning (a routine “stress test”, which I don’t like the sound of).  I had one about 15 years ago, and it was pure hell, mainly because I couldn’t have any caffeine the day before at all.  It also may have been the medical facility I went to, after I saw some of the type people they hired.  (Not for medical staff, I’m sure a political appointment to another non-medical position.)  

This time, it was 12 hours, which is much more reasonable.  Also, I drink much less caffeine than I did 15 years ago.  Since I quit drinking any type of carbonated drink (makes me cough) and have cut down on my coffee intake (not be design, I still love coffee, just the pattern of my life changing).  

I used to drink maybe 8 cups of coffee before I even woke up (well not really, but before I went to work) and than probably another 8-10 cups during the day.  Now, on a routine work day, I may drink one cup of coffee (2 in oz terms) if I am lucky and some tea during the day.  

On a good weekend, I may drink 3 cups of coffee for breakfast and a “Trenta” or 2 of ice coffee at Starbucks.  During the week and on weekends, I also may drink a Trenta or 2 of ice coffee at Starbucks maybe 4 times a week at max, usually in the late afternoon.   

More than anyone cares to know (except the medical staff or II) about my caffeine habits!

Anyway, I normally do a lot of research on medical tests etc. I am scheduled for, I didn’t even do any research on this one!  

I’ll see.

That’s it for now, Monday, September 24, 2018

2018 Fall September 23 Sunday

65 degrees this morning, walk 35:01 minutes 86% humidity  4,925 steps

Coolish walk this morning, definitely could feel the humidity, no breeze.  No moon reflection. (I’m not quite sure how to specify that, obviously there is a moon, I just can’t see it!)

Fall is here, the Summer of 18 is over.  Hopefully the Summer weather will continue for awhile, but it will be what it is.  Unfortunately I have to deal with it. 

I was reading about some of the daily lives in Lincoln’s time and (in the biography of Robert Moses) listening about  the daily lives in the early to mid-1900s in New York City.  We have it good, there is no question of that.  I really don’t have anything to complain about!

I am listening in the biography on Robert Moses of the beginning of his downfall, mainly the time when people begin to realize what a crook and arrogant person he was.  

I normally don’t “enjoy” reading, listening or watching about someone’s downfall, but in this case, I am enjoying it.  He was a crook who abused his public position and ruined the lives of thousands, and if you consider the generations of New Your residents and visitors who are negatively impacted by his arrogance and abuse of power, probably millions of persons.

The worse part of his behavior was the abuse of his public position and the fact he did not attempt to make the lives of the citizens better, but rather trampled on their rights and did not attempt to comply with the law in his treatment of citizens.  

What makes it worse, is, he was allowed to do this by a negligent news media, coward and greedy politicians and greedy “professionals” and persons who were enriched by his abuse of power. 

I don’t often say someone should go to prison for non-violent behavior, I feel there are many other more positive ways to punish and rehabilitate persons who commit non-violent crimes, but in this case, I feel prison was warranted.  

What actually finally led to people learning the truth about his arrogance and abuse of power was a group of young (the author emphasized the youth) journalists who got tired of seeing the “common person” stomped on by Moses.  

While i can understand the author’s point in emphasizing it was young journalists who did it, I think he took the normal route of emphasizing “youth” but not also pointing out that it was persons not associated with the “establishment”, and it could have been, and frequently is, any age of person who decides they have had enough and they are going to change the system.  

I still remember the impact of Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions had on my thinking.  (i was surprised to learn it was an “old” book when I first read it).  

While I may be mangling it up a little, one of the concepts I learned was that it is frequently the person/s who are new to a profession that make the major breakthroughs, primarily because they aren’t constrained by “establishment” thinking.  He termed it a “new Paradigm”.  

Actually in spite of my comments (and my belief that he is right), “the establishment” is still usually a major positive force in society.  Any organization, person or whatever just needs to realize that “continuous improvement” is necessary to keep a viable organization.

Anyway, in he case of Robert Moses, it was a group of young journalists who persisted.  I think the persistence was just as important as the new view on a situation that was just “accepted” by the news media and the “establishment”.  

As I mentioned once about the Robert Moses biography, I am amazed I had not heard of it before (at least at a  conscious level), I also was surprised I had not read “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” before I did.  I  recently listened to it again, and it was still relevant and interesting  

That’s it for now, Sunday, September 223, 2018, the first day of Fall of 2018.

2018 Summer September 22 Saturday

59 degrees this morning, no walk (weatherI), 84% humidity 

Obviously not sitting on the patio this morning, the last day of the Summer of 18.  Very heavy rains yesterday, rained most of the day.  Flash flood warnings all day.

Not looking forward to the start of cold weather, it tends to get into your bones. Hopefully we can have a “winter break” and go someplace “hot”!  

I am realizing again I need to continue working on a “Personal Strategic Plan”, especially a way to handle personal matters, like learning more about how I can use technology to organize etc.  

I am finding that time passes and I haven’t followed up on some projects, such as learning to get more productively on the computers, and electronic devices as well as the software programs, especially productivity programs. 

I kind of feel like I am missing out on getting even a minimum productivity from many of my electronic devices and programs.  

However, I have also found that many times I simply don’t learn something until I need to accomplish something.  

I realized this years (many years) ago when I needed to prepare a budget and suddenly I was able to learn Excel.  I had been trying to learn Excel, but in the abstract it was difficult for me to learn, when I had something I needed to use it for, i was able to learn what I needed without any problem.  

Perhaps the problem with that is that if I don’t know the capabilities of a program, I won’t know to learn it, if that makes any sense!

I am looking at detailing what I want to accomplish and than look at the resources available to reach those objectives.  

In a lot of ways technology can actually waste time as you try to learn a device operation that you don’t need.  For example, I am well aware that I probably only use a small percentage of the total capacity of of my computer devices and programs.  However, perhaps that is ok if that is all I need!  

I am considering changing my perspective to weigh more on what I want to accomplish and then study the means I can use available resources to accomplish rather than attempting to learn a device or program without any real plan on what I intend to accomplish with it.  Of course, I need to know enough about a device or program or app to know what I can accomplish with it also!

The biggest problem I have on accomplishing many things is simply the amount of time it takes.  For example, calling about the “Nest” products has been an exercise in futility. 

I think much of the problem goes back to either not training people well or choosing the wrong people.  

I have learned that Apple Computer (and phone companies, cable, other computer companies etc.!)  has some of the best support staff, but also some that simply aren’t competent.  I won’t detail the circumstances now (maybe in the future), but I decided I’m not going to hesitate to hang up on someone who appears to be incompetent or not care and just call back to get someone else.  

That’s it for now, Saturday, September 22, 2018, the last and first day of Summer of 2018! 

2018 Summer September 21 Friday

73 degrees this morning, walk 34;45 minutes, 80% humidity 

Good walk this morning.  At times I thought I felt some mist in the air, (there was a small chance of rain) but I wasn’t really worried about it raining.  No moon.  

Sitting out on the patio.  Unfortunately it is starting to rain, and we all know what moisture does to computers!

I moved back under the roof area just to be safe.  I don’t think it will rain that much now, but it is supposed to rain a lot this weekend.  supposedly there is a chance of record amounts of rain this weekend, which we really don’t need.

I was thinking about the quote I discussed yesterday “Ain’t never going to be what it was”.  

I was thinking of it in in the negative, plaintive sense, but it also could be a positive joyful whoop also!  

Regardless, it is true, everything changes every second and you never know where the change is actually leading. 

Back to “service”, while I like the Nest products, I don’t think I have ever experienced quite as bad of customer service, they must train them to be surly and negative to reduce the number of calls they get!  I have rarely experience such a unhelpful “customer service” department, with the exception perhaps of the phone companies.  

Actually,  “T-Mobile” is an exception to bad customer service by phone companies.  Except for one call, I have always had excellent customer service since we switched to T-Mobile for our cellular service.  

It’s Friday1  Somehow it seems like the workweek just started and now it is Friday!  I like my job,  but i like my weekends also!

Thinking more about apathy and people voting who know nothing about the candidates etc., I”m not sure which is worse, or maybe it doesn’t really matter.  Obviously people have the right to vote regardless of whether they are informed or not and apathy isn’t illegal.  

However, what I have seen is that politicians take advantage of this.  In a city i used to live in, the elected officials changed the election date to the “national” election day on the pretense of “saving money”.

Of course, what they really want is the chance to use “dark money” to spread misinformation, hoping that people who are more interested in national and state elections will be easily influenced by “dark/dirty money” and they literally hope they can buy the local election.  Apathy isn’t all bad if you have no idea what you are voting on! 

On the other hand, as in the school district I live in now, they had an election for a huge amount of money for “football fields” that was quietly held in February, with little information provided, obviously (in my opinion) hoping not to raise any opposition.  

Nothing against football fields, but it seems like it should be openly discussed why football fields and not classrooms or whatever should be a priority!

Of course I also read where the “administrators” were “automatically” given the same percentage increase as the teachers.  Seems a rather strange policy to me, since the Administrators will get a huge actual increase in comparison to the teacher increase and much of the teacher increase was paid for by the state.  I look at my huge tax bill for the school district and wonder about where the money is going.   I also wonder why the news media isn’t publicizing this and at least providing the information, agree or disagree.  

That’s it for now, Friday, September 21, 2018.